Astronomers have discovered another black hole with a mass over fifteen times that of the Sun, one of only three such objects found so far. The newly announced black hole lies in a spiral galaxy called NGC 300, six million light-years from Earth.
"This is the most distant stellar-mass black hole ever weighed, and it's the first one we've seen outside our own galactic neighborhood, the Local Group," says Paul Crowther, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the paper appearing in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A new study in the Journal Of Law And Economics suggests that the number of hours physicians work each week is influenced by their fear of malpractice lawsuits.
The study found that doctors cut back their workload by almost two hours each week when the expected liability risk increases by 10 percent. The study notes that the decline in hours adds up to the equivalent of one of every 35 physicians retiring without a replacement.
The analysis combined data gathered by insurers about medical liability risks in each state and medical specialty with physicians' responses to surveys about their workload and income.
Married couples who refer to themselves as 'we' may annoy everyone around them, but probably have healthier marriages than people who emphasize individuality in their relationships, according to a recent study published in Psychology and Aging.
UC Berkeley Researchers analyzed conversations between 154 middle-aged and older couples about points of disagreement in their marriages and found that those who used pronouns such as "we," "our" and "us" behaved more positively toward one another and showed less physiological stress.
For many recovering alcoholics, AA is the primary reason they're able to kick their addiction and stay sober. According to a new study in the Journal Addiction, one of many reasons that the program is so successful appears to be alleviation of depression. Researchers have found that study participants who attended AA meetings more frequently had fewer symptoms of depression – along with less drinking – than did those with less AA participation.
Writing in Alcoholism: Clinical&Experimental Research, scientists say that older adults who have more money, engage in more social activities, and whose friends approve more of drinking are more likely to engage in excessive or high-risk drinking.
Researchers examined 719 (399 men, 320 women) 55 to 65-year-old adults at baseline (between 1986-1988), and then again 10 and 20 years later. At each contact point, participants provided information regarding their drinking, as well as their social and financial resources.
Through the use of sophisticated brain-imaging techniques, researchers at UCLA say they have been able to predict a brain's progression to Alzheimer's by measuring subtle changes in brain structure over time, changes that occur long before symptoms can be seen. The research appears in two separate papers published in Human Brain Mapping and Neurobiology of Aging.
Painting the roofs of buildings white may reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect by as much as 33 percent, significantly cooling off cities and helping society adjust to the changing climate, suggests a new study soon to be published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The study's authors used a newly developed computer model to simulate the amount of solar
Researchers say they have devised a new strategy that increases the likelihood of a recipient's immune system accepting embryonic stem cell transplants. The strategy involves fusing bone marrow cells to embryonic stem cells. Once fused, the hybrid cells have DNA from both the donor and recipient, raising hopes that immune rejection of embryonic stem cell therapies can be avoided without drugs. The findings appear in the February issue of the FASEB Journal
The government financial support that has bolstered America's commercial news industry since its colonial days is now in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a report released today by the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Because these cutbacks are occurring at the height of the digital revolution, they will have an especially powerful impact on an already weakened news industry.
Writing in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers say that many of the health benefits of aerobic exercise are due to the most recent exercise session, and the nature of these benefits can be greatly affected by the food we eat afterwards.
